Lezlye Donahue touched a special place in the hearts of The Biggest Loser fans this season.  A victim of Hurricane Katrina, she lost everything in the storm.  She numbed her pain with food and let her weight get beyond her control.  Donahue made her way to an open casting call for the show after being displaced to Florida in the aftermath of the hurricane.  She was in the right place at the right time, made it on the show, and was selected to be part of Kim Lyons' red team.  On last night's episode, it seemed her teammate, Amy Zimmer, would be the one going home.  Amy turned her back on Lezlye and their alliance and orchestrated her exit.  Today, Lezlye talked to BuddyTV about her time on the show and the impact Hurricane Katrina had on her life.

Below, you will find the complete transcript and mp3 of the interview.

Hey everybody, this is Gina from BuddyTV and I’m talking to Lezlye Donahue, the latest contestant to be eliminated from The Biggest Loser. Lezlye, how ya doing?

I’m doing great.


Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today, I appreciate it.

Glad to be here.


Now have you watched previous seasons of The Biggest Loser?

I have not. I had not seen an episode prior to trying out.


So you didn’t know what you were getting into when you got on the show?

I did not. I went in with blinders on and did not know the extent of the exercise, and so forth.


And how did you end up being part of the show, had you seen an ad and decided that it would be something good for you to try out for?

I did. I found myself after Hurricane Katrina in Jacksonville, Florida and it was an open casting call and it just worked out great. Things just fell into place.


Can you talk a little bit about the effects of the hurricane on you, did you lose your house?

I did. I was located in the eastern part of New Orleans where the eye of the storm directly went over my home. And when we were allowed to return back in January, I came home to complete ground. There was no debris to pick up. There was no remnants of the house, it was just grass and ground. It’s been a tough recovery. It’s two years later and I’m happy to report that I just got a house two months ago.


Yeah, I saw that on the episode. It’s a beautiful house.

Thank you, thank you. I’m very excited about it. My son and I are just so pleased to have a home now. We’ve been traveling the United States for two years and to finally have a place to call our own and kick out shoes of? Wonderful.


Was it hard for you to be separated from your son, being on the show after going through such a terrible thing like the hurricane?

It was. It was really difficult to separate myself from Adam and that’s only because I knew the emotional trauma that he was going under. He was 13 when the storm hit, it’s critical years as it is, and then I’m separated from him when he’s 15. It was difficult, but I knew that I had to change my life in order to make his better.


Do you feel like you’ve changed not only on the outside, but the inside too since being on the show?

I accredit everything about that to the show. I am a different person than when I was when I began this journey.


What do you think happened with the elimination, because they didn’t really show…it looked like Amy was gonna go home, and turn around and it was you. What happened?

I don’t know. I wish I knew. Amy and I had an alliance together, and unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.


Did you know that she was campaigning to get you out, or did you find that out when you watched it last night?

I did not know. I did not watch the episode last night, but what I’ve heard, yes, she went behind my back.


A lot of the contestants were mad when they saw the black team there. What was your reaction to seeing them?

In my heart, I was so grateful because when I watched them, I was really…being the last one picked, knowing how I felt standing on that line in the desert and just what was going through my head was “Please, pick me. Pick me.” And then my name is called and I’m the last one and I turned around and I saw those contestants, Hollie and Isabeau, just crying and my immediate reaction was “Please go home and do this. Please, you’ve got to change your life.” And so when I saw them on that scale, it was like “This is great.” This is what it’s about, it’s about changing people’s lives and we were able to do that for all of us.


Were you surprised that they ended up coming in first in the weigh-in?

Yes I was. I was really surprised. I don’t know Jillian [Michaels’] background or anything, so I don’t have any past seasons to go on, but man, she’s hardcore.


Yes she is.

She really is.


When they showed your video at home, I believe they said you had lost 55 pounds, is that right?

Correct.


What efforts did you make when you got home to try to make sure that you would continue on that path?

When I got home, it was difficult at first. It wasn’t like I went straight into this, continued the journey of the weight loss. When I first got home I was still homeless, I didn’t have a house. So I was really trying to get a home at that point. And just outside factors, as they do in every day before I got on the show, just interfered with it. I started to lose weight, and I put some pounds back on, and started to lose weight again. And from here on out, it’s gone. So it was difficult, it wasn’t easy.


No, I can imagine not. Will we get to see you on the finale of the show to see even more progress that you’ve made?

Let me tell you, I can’t wait until America tunes in for the live finale. They are absolutely gonna be shocked by my progress. It’s gonna be amazing.


Well I can’t wait to see it and I’m really glad that they told your story on the show. I think it’s important to keep the awareness of Hurricane Katrina victims going.

Well thank you and I just appreciate you having me on today.


Thank you so much, have a great day Lezlye.


- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of NBC)